Wigan were last night docked four points for the biggest salary cap breach in the Super League's history, despite an audacious defence which included a claim that nine senior players had agreed to forgo their wages for three months last autumn.

The Warriors were found guilty of busting the limit of £1.6m on payments by £222,314 (6.3%). The punishment dumps them from fourth to ninth in the congested table and leaves them with an uphill struggle to qualify for the top-six play-offs, with only six matches remaining.

However, that is a drop in the ocean compared with the eight points they would have lost without winning a preliminary hearing to reduce the maximum punishment two weeks ago. That would have left them a point above the bottom club, Salford, and back in real relegation danger - although not quite as deep as the trouble they were in last June, when they made the world-record signing of Bradford's Great Britain prop Stuart Fielden, which led to their salary cap problems.

It emerged yesterday that the Rugby Football League, which had initially blocked that deal until it was given a personal assurance by Wigan's chairman, Maurice Lindsay, that it would not lead to a salary cap breach, would not have allowed Fielden to move had it been aware of the way in which Lindsay would attempt to wriggle off the hook.

The Fielden deal had gone through two weeks after Kris Radlinski agreed to come out of retirement, with Lindsay insisting that money had not been an issue because Wigan were at their salary cap limit.

He did manage to release some players, as he had promised the RFL - notably Kevin Brown to Huddersfield and Dennis Moran to Widnes. But that was never going to be enough, so Lindsay renegotiated the contracts of nine players - including Fielden, only two months after he had signed. Fielden and Harrison Hansen, another of the players who agreed to the new terms, attended last night's independent tribunal as witnesses but Lindsay expressed his disappointment that they "apparently weren't considered".

Lindsay said that Wigan, who have been ordered to pay costs, will reserve their right to appeal until they see the written judgment. But the verdict could also lead to legal action from Castleford, who were relegated after finishing three points behind Wigan.

Last night's revelations also raise the question of how Wigan have avoided breaching the cap this season, with all the players who agreed to defer their payments now on better or longer deals. But cynics have already noted that by the time the 2007 figures are considered next year the danger of relegation will already have been removed, with a new franchise system due to be introduced for 2009.

Wigan's punishment follows a two-point deduction for Bradford and a fine for St Helens for smaller breaches last season, and in previous years Halifax, Hull and Wakefield were also docked two points. But the Warriors have struggled with the salary cap since it was introduced in 2001, with Lindsay initially securing an exemption because the club was already locked into a number of long-term deals.

They were also docked two points and fined £50,000 for conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game last year, after a dispute over whether image rights should count towards their salary cap figures.